“I’m so sorry dear,” Mrs Beaver said to Mr Beaver.
“He was my best mate,” he answered quietly. I sobbed quietly. There was other stone animals there too, a dog, squirrels. Who did this? Then I remembered. The Witch did it.
“What happened here?” Peter asked.
“This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch,” an unknown voice said. I looked around for the voice’s owner.
There! Above the dog was a fox.
“You take on more step, traitor, and I’ll chew you to splinters!” Mr Beaver angrily said. Peter dragged me backwards, away from the fox.
“Relax! I’m one of the good guys,” the fox said. He sounded offended.
“Yeah? Well, you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones,” Mr Beaver replied.
“An unfortunate family resemblance,” the fox said. “But we can argue breeding later. Right now we’ve got to move.”
I looked back at the barrel. It moved a little and I heard someone trying to dig himself out.
“What did you have in mind?” Peter asked. The fox motioned to the tree. I got the idea and started climbing up, as high as I could get. I was quite skilled in climbing trees. I used to do it all the time before the war.
The others followed. I sat between Susan and Peter. Lucy sat beside Peter, and Mr and Mrs Beaver sat on another branch, on the other side of the trunk.
We didn’t have to wait long. The wolves soon came running out of the tree and surrounded the fox, who still was on the ground.
“Greeting, gents,” he said. The wolves circled around him. I was scared for his life.
“Lost something, have we?” he continued.
“Don’t patronize me!” one of the wolves barked. “I know where your allegiance lies.” The fox never took the eyes of that particular wolf, so I thought that he might be the leader.
“We’re looking for some humans,” the wolf-leader continued. The fox laughed a bit.
“Humans? Here in Narnia?” he said. “Well, that’s some valuable information, don’t you think?”
Wrong thing to say. Another wolf bet hold of his back as he left the ground and hung in the wolf's mouth. I gasped, but Susan clapped her hand over my mouth. Peter did the same to Lucy and Mrs Beaver to her husband.
“Your reward is your life,” the leader wolf said. “It’s not much, but still. Where are the fugitives?”
Susan still held her hand over my mouth, but I listened carefully. Was the fox going to betray us?
“North,” the fox sighed. “They ran north.”
“Smell them out,” the leader wolf said and they ran away, leaving the poor fox there on the ground.
I climbed down as fast as I could and rushed over to the fox. He was still alive.
Peter carried him to the fire the others made, and Mrs Beaver tried to bandage his wounds. I sat down on the other side of the fox, trying to help Mrs Beaver to cure him. It ended up that I ate some biscuits instead.
“Okay, back to my question,” Peter said. “What happened there?”
“They were helping Tumnus,” the fox said. “The Witch got there before I did.” It was clear that his wounds hurt.
“Are you alright?” Lucy asked.
“I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite,” he answered and then gasped. Mrs Beaver had tried to clean one of his wounds. “OW!”
“Stop squirming!” she said. “You’re worse than Beaver on bath day!”
“Worst day of the year,” he whispered, not loud enough for Mrs Beaver to hear.
“Thank you for your kindness, but I’m afraid that’s all cure I have time for,” the fox said and stood up.
“You’re leaving?” Lucy asked.
“It has been a pleasure, my Queen, and an honour,” he bowed for Lucy. “But the time is short and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops.” Mr and Mrs Beaver gasped.
“You’ve seen Aslan?” Mr Beaver said.
“What’s he like?” Mrs Beaver filled in.
“Like everything we’ve ever heard,” the fox answered. He turned to us.
“You’ll be glad to have him by your side in the battle against the Witch,” he continued. Susan and Peter looked gloomy.
“But we’re not planning on fighting any Witch,” Susan said. The fox turned to Peter.
“But surely, King Peter, the prophecy!” the fox said.
“We can’t go to war without you,” Mr Beaver said. Peter sighed and looked at Susan.
“We just want our brother back,” Peter finally said. I sighed. Can’t they just understand that this is bigger than us?
“Think of it,” the fox said and walked away. I stood up, but only Lucy noticed it. I followed the fox, and it was lucky I did. I saw the fox collapse on the ground. I ran to him.
“My Queen, what are you doing here?” he asked and tried to stand up. I laid my hand on him to say that he should stay down.
I had a tingling feeling in my hand. I looked down on the fox and saw that his wounds healed in front of my eyes. I tried to lift my hand, but I couldn’t move it.
When the fox’s wounds were healed, I took away my hand. I was shocked. The fox bowed for me.
“Thank you, My Queen,” he said and left. What did I just do? Did I heal his wounds? I looked down on my hand. It was a little blood on it. I rubbed it away with some snow.
“Emily? Are you alright?” Susan asked when I returned to the fire. I yawned.
“Maybe we should sleep a little?” Mrs Beaver said.
***
“Come on, humans! While we’re still young,” Mr Beaver called out to us. I barely heard it, because I was at the back of our group. Mr and Mrs Beaver walked in the front. Then there was Susan, and then Peter. Then Lucy and last me.
We’ve been walking since the sunrise. I am really, really tired now. I couldn’t sleep well. I just thought of what I did to the fox. I’m still trying to understand what happened. And more confusing is that I noticed a few small wounds on my hand. Not any big, just small. But they still hurts a bit.
While Lucy jumped up on Peter’s back and Susan waited for them, I caught up with them. Susan took my hand.
“Come on, Emily. When we reach the frozen river we can have something to eat,” she said.
“I swear, if he tells us to hurry one more time, I’m gonna turn him into a big, fluffy hat,” Peter said after Mr Beaver told us to hurry up again. I giggled.
“Hurry up! Come on!” Mr Beaver cried out.
“He is getting little bossy,” Lucy said.
“No, behind you!” Mrs Beaver cried out. “It’s Her!” I looked over my shoulder. There was a sleigh coming.
“Run! Run! RUN!” Peter and Mr Beaver screamed. And so we did. Susan ran first, then Peter with Lucy. I ended up behind them. I fell behind.
When the others reached the trees, I was about five metres behind. Nobody noticed me falling behind.
I nearly strangled myself when my coat got stuck in a tree branch. I was stuck! I panicked and tried to get away, but I couldn’t.
“PETER!” I screamed. My voice sounded a lot like Lucy’s, but a little hoarse from not talking. I stopped struggling to get loose when I heard myself talk. I was shocked.
Then I knew how to get loose. I took off the coat and turned around. It was cold, very, very cold without it. I shuddered. As quickly as I could, I got it loose and took it on again.
I turned around again and walked longer into the forest. I followed the sound of the sleigh.
I stopped behind a big tree and looked at the scene in front of me. The sleigh had stopped moving. And now I saw that it was red, not white.
It wasn’t the Witch. It was someone Susan always told us didn’t exist. It was…
“Santa?” I whispered. He turned his head towards me.
“Come here, Daughter of Eve,” he said and motioned for me to come. I walked to him, and saw my siblings coming towards Santa too. I ran to them and hugged Lucy. Then I turned around to Santa again.
“Look, I’ve put up with a lot since I got here, but this…” I heard Susan say to Peter.
“Oh, shut up,” I quietly said. No one else than Lucy heard me. She smiled at me, apparently a bit shocked that I talked.
“We thought you were the Witch,” Peter said.
“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” Santa said. “But in my defence, I have been driving one of these longer than the Witch.” I giggled.
“I thought there was no Christmas in Narnia,” Susan said. She’s right, but who cares? It is now!
“No. Not for a long time. But the hope you’ve brought, Your Majesties, is finally starting to weaken the Witch’s power,” Santa replied. “Still, I dare say you could do with these.”
He lifted his large sack down from the sleigh to the ground and opened it.
“Presents!” Lucy cried out and walked forward. Santa gave her a small bottle.
“The juice of the fire-flower. One drop will cure any injury,” he said to her. “And though I hope you never have to use it…” he gave her a small knife too.
“Thank you, sir,” Lucy said. “But I think I could be brave enough.” She sounded a bit confused.
“I’m sure you could. But battles are ugly affairs,” Santa answered her. She backed away and he took up a bow and a quiver with arrows.
“Susan,” he said. “Trust in this bow, and it will not easily miss.”
“What happened to ‘battles are ugly affairs’?” she replied. Santa laughed a bit. I did too, quietly.
“Though you don’t seem to have a problem making yourself heard, blow on this and wherever you are, help will come,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said to him and backed away. Santa reached down in his sack once again, and took up a small box.
“Emily,” he said and I walked forwards. He gave me the box and I opened it. Inside was a beautiful, but simple, necklace. It was a sapphire blue stone on a simple, black thread. I heard something strange, it was like a melody coming out of the stone. I wasn’t sure if anyone else could hear it.
“This necklace will help you to use your true power,” Santa said, just loud enough for me to hear. I looked up from the necklace to Santa’s face. I nodded and closed the box.
Then he handed me a dagger. It looked like it was made of silver, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t.
“If your destiny has something to say, you’ll need this,” he said.
“But what happened to ‘Battles are ugly affairs’?” I said, smiled and backed to Lucy. I looked around.
Susan, Peter, Mr and Mrs Beaver looked at me. Mr and Mrs Beaver happily, Peter and Susan confused, shocked and happily.
“Peter,” Santa said. He took up a sword and a shield from the sack.
“The time to use these may be near at hand,” he continued. I didn’t pay attention, because I opened my box again. I heard that melody again, and this time I was sure that no one else than me could hear it. Nobody noticed me when I took it on. It felt like the music now was coming from inside me. I hid it under my shirt. The music faded away.
“Now, I must be off!” I looked up when Santa said this.
“Winter is almost over, and things do pile up when you’ve been gone a hundred years,” he continued. He looked at us.
“Long live Aslan! And Merry Christmas!” he said happily.
“Merry Christmas!” I said as he drove away in his sleigh. I still couldn’t speak loud, and my voice was still a bit hoarse.
Lucy turned to Susan.
“Told you he was real!” she said. But both Susan and Peter looked at me.
“When… When did you begin to talk?” Peter slowly asked. I smiled.
“About ten minutes ago,” I said, and then coughed a bit.
“Oh, this is the best Christmas present I’ve ever got!” Susan cried out.
“What, your bow?” I asked. She smiled and pulled me into a hug.
“No, you talking again!” she said. Peter and Lucy joined the hug, and we had a nice little moment as a family. But I remembered Edmund after a moment and didn’t enjoy the hug as much as I could’ve done.
“He said winter was almost over,” Peter said when we stopped hugging. “You know what that means!” I looked at him, confused.
“No more ice.”